One night I was sitting in my kitchen half—listening as my 15-year-old son Tommy fought with his brother Kevin. I didn't pay attention when Kevin went upstairs with a look of 1 on his face.
About 20 minutes later, as I was walking upstairs, I 2 Kevin crying in his room. I knocked on the door and asked, "Kevin, do you want to 3 ?" No 4 . I tried again. Still nothing happened. So, I took a piece of paper from a notepad and wrote, "If you don't want to talk, we can write 5 to each other. " and slipped (使滑动) it under the door.
An hour later I was still 6 on the floor outside his door with a stack of (一摞) notes in my hands. As I read one of Kevin's notes, I couldn't help crying. It said, "7 in this family loves me. I am not the youngest nor the oldest, and I am not the 8 . Tommy thinks I am too weak, and Dad wishes he had the other Kevin as a kid 9 he's better at basketball. You're 10 around to even understand me. " He was 11 about my part. Feeling sorry for him, I wrote back, "Kevin, I do love you, and you are 12 in this family. " He didn't reply for a while, but I could hear him crying softly.
Kevin 13 paper, so he wrote "Thanks. " on a paper cup. I wrote back "For what?" It was returned to me with the reply "Loving me. " written on it.
Since then, I have tried my best to 14 my family members. When one of us notices that the other is 15 , we'll smile and say, "Write it on a paper cup. "
